Paleo “Spaghetti” with Sausage and Peppers

I know I’ve been posting a lot of food lately, but that’s about the most exciting thing we’ve got going on in our house. Turner is teething AGAIN. This time, it’s his top teeth. He is NOT a happy camper. He’s been waking up the past 3 nights, every half hour, moaning/crying. Luckily, I haven’t had to get out of bed. He just sort of drifts back to sleep. Poor baby. So, cooking makes me happy and calms my nerves! Therefore, that’s what you get!

A few days ago, Stew decided he wanted to try the paleo diet (after we just bought 3 loaves of bread). This all stemmed from this program my mom and stepdad were watching when they babysat last week. It was about the “perfect” diet. I’ve been seeing a ton of yummy looking paleo recipes on Pinterest, so I figured, why not!? I love any excuse to use funky ingredients to make a meal. Hell, I did the raw food thing for months! So you’ll be a part of my experimenting!

I saw a recipe for crock pot sausage and peppers over spaghetti squash. So, I made my spin on that. I didn’t use the crock pot at all. I feel like it would have turned to mush if I did. So I made a sort of spaghetti with meat-sauce meets sausage and peppers dish. Again, I was experimenting. But it came out DELICIOUS! Spaghetti squash is such an underrated vegetable (fruit?). It was light and delicious but had that sort of comfort food feel.

I started by cutting the squash in half lengthwise. Ok, to be honest, Stew cut it. That sucker isn’t easy to cut through! I filled a casserole dish with about 1/2 inch of water and placed the squash cut-side down in the dish. I used the tip of a knife (a fork would be safer) to poke some holes in the skin. I covered with foil and baked at 400°F for 45 minutes.
In the meantime, I made the sauce. I chopped the peppers, onion, and garlic, and sauteed them in a dutch oven for about 5 minutes. While the veggies cooked, I removed the sausage from its casings and had them ready to go!
I took the pepper mixture out to rest and popped the sausage in that same dutch oven. I used a hard spatula to break up the sausage into tiny pieces and cooked them until they were no longer pink. Then, I added the jar of sauce and pepper mixture back in. I let it cook on low for another 5 minutes.

Once the squash was finished, I used a fork to scrape all of the flesh into a bowl. I dished out the squash and topped with the sausage and peppers sauce. It was so good! I’m glad we have leftovers 😮 You’ll have to let me know what you think when you try it!

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Fill a casserole dish with about 1/2 inch of water, and place the squash cut-side down in the dish. Use a fork to poke some holes in the skin. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until the skin is easily pierced with a knife.

Meanwhile, heat Dutch Oven over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp olive oil. Slice 1/2 an onion and peppers into long strips, and sautée for 5 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper over the pepper mixture. Mince a clove of garlic and add to peppers and onions. Cook one more minute.

While the peppers and onion are cooking, remove sausage from its casing. Take onion and pepper mixture out of the Dutch Oven and put on a plate. Add sausage to the same pot and break up with spatula into small pieces. Cook 5 minutes or until no longer pink.

Add the jar of sauce and pepper mixture to the Dutch Oven. Stir to combine. Cook on low for 5 minutes.

Once squash is finished, remove from oven. Let cool so it’s easier to handle. Use a fork to scrape the flesh into a bowl. Divide quash among 4 bowls and top with sausage and pepper sauce. Garnish with fresh basil if desired.